68 fury III sway bar OEM vs. aftermarket

Bob68fury

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From what I can tell a original Fury front sway bar requires brackets that were riveted in? To mount properly? Sounds like a bad idea. Am I off base or is there a better aftermarket option. Please feel free to weigh in.
 
Look up ADDCO sway bars.
They have been around since the 60s, when our cars were new.
 
Look up ADDCO sway bars.
They have been around since the 60s, when our cars were new.
Have you used them for a similar car? Any fitment issues? Looks like I can get front and rear from them for around 400
 
Had them on a 74 Charger.
Easy install, no fitment issues, ran like it was on rails. Still rode well, too.

Biggest improvement you can make.
 
I've bought aftermarket rear bars for a C, 1st one in the mid 90s - didn't fit, not even close.
Bought a 2nd one perhaps 5-7 years later, from a more reputable supplier, and it didn't fit either.
I bought a 1" front bar from somebody (PST I think) and it fit but the hardware and instructions were terrible, the clamp brackets to the strut rods really sucked, could fit either way but neither way was a good fit.

I then bought FirmFeel front and rear bars. Haven't installed the rear bar yet, but the front fit fantastically and it works so much better than the others. Not in performance per se, but in feel/responsiveness. A bar is only as effective as its attachment, and this is where FF has everybody beat hands-down IMO. More expensive, but worth it.

For any future car that I plan to put bars on, and that I plan to keep long-term, I'll spend the extra $$$ for FF.
 
From what I can tell a original Fury front sway bar requires brackets that were riveted in? To mount properly? Sounds like a bad idea. Am I off base or is there a better aftermarket option. Please feel free to weigh in.
The frame brackets were welded in, all C's (with factory swaybar) were similar in this regard.

I made some brackets from boxtube (sliced at an angle) and welded them in when I had the grille, radiator support, and all the belt-drive stuff off the engine. And it was still a tight fit to get in there with a welding helmet. Not as much space as one would think...
 
I'm looking into options for upgrading the front swaybar on my '68 Fury and found this thread. It doesn’t look like Addco do a front bar for C bodys so PST and Firm Feel look like the only options. Seems like the main difference is the Firm Feel bar attaches to the lower control arms instead of the strut rods. Has anyone used anything else? I don’t really like the way the sway bars are suspended from the frame mounts and would prefer to mount the bar directly to the front stub frame - has anyone modified the mounts to do something like this?
 
If you mount it directly to the subframe it'll likely hit the strut rods or somehow not fit how you want it to.
Also, if mounted directly at all 4 points it'll be REALLY stiff, as you are removing the compliance of the 4 biscuit bushings at the factory frame brackets. And might bend your strut bars? The strut bars are really intended to be stretched/pushed, not side-loaded. Yes, teh factory did it, but they also engineered all those parts to work together in that manner. Make a swaybar stiffer and the strut rods have more loading...
 
I was planning on attaching the ends to the lower control arms similar to how the Firm Feel bar mounts so there would be end links with some compliance. I may end up just getting the Firm Feel bar but thinking about it first to see if I come up with any other ideas.
 
If you do, make sure to mock it all up and loosely assemble with wheels on the ground.
That might be obvious, but in the excitement it's easy to put a car on a frame-lift with the wheels hanging...
 
No problem there, I don’t have a frame lift! I did a similar modification on a '62 Imperial I had and that worked out pretty well.
 
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